Letter: Dying whale’s cries will haunt me

Dozens gathered on the shore of Moriches Bay on Sunday, Nov. 27, 2016, to mourn a humpback whale that was euthanized after it had been stranded on a sandbar for four days. Some of the attendees took the opportunity to call for the government to have a better plan for future whale strandings. (Credit: Newsday / Thomas A. Ferrara)

Please, we can do better than this [“Whale’s remains buried,” News, Nov. 29]. This whale was stranded outside my back door for four days. I could hear the whale’s cries at night.

The attempt by the Riverhead Foundation for Marine Research and Preservation to free it was feeble. The organization sent one small boat and a rowboat at high tide to try to create a wave action to free the whale. But there were probably four or five official boats days before, trying to keep people away. Why weren’t those boats used to help create a wave action?

There was no attempt to keep the whale wet or keep the seagulls from pecking at the whale. The community provided necessary resources, including an excavator, to help free the whale. Only then were there a lot of official boats arriving.

The whale was examined by a veterinarian on behalf of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration after being stranded for four days. We now know that visit was just so they could euthanize the whale. Someone in authority from NOAA should have been there to develop a plan to free the whale.

Internet sources show there are interventions we could have used to free this whale, whose cries will stay with me for a long time.